The Globe roarsThere are, without a doubt, conservatives inside and outside Massachusetts who expect the Boston Globe's new biography of Ted Kennedy — Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy — to be a whitewash of a liberal politician by a liberal media outlet. But if they actually decide to read the book, they'll be surprised. Yes, the narrative arc is one of redemption (or at least recovery), as the subtitle suggests — and as Kennedy's later years in the US Senate warrant. But Ted's weaknesses and vices, and those of his family, get plenty of critical attention.

At Kennedy's first wedding, for example, the book describes brother John F. Kennedy reassuring him that getting married doesn't mean you actually have to be faithful. Ted subsequently put that advice into practice, thereby exacerbating the problems that his then-wife, Joan, had with alcohol. When Edward McCormack insisted on running against Kennedy for the Senate seat formerly held by JFK, he presumptuously tried to buy McCormack off with some sort of federal appointment, to be engineered by his brother, the president. Later, Kennedy embarrassed himself by backing the nomination for a federal judgeship of Francis X. Morrissey, a former coat holder for Joe Kennedy Sr., and a man of profoundly limited abilities and qualifications.

Meanwhile, the great stain on Kennedy's life and reputation — i.e., the crash at Chappaquiddick that killed Mary Jo Kopechne — takes up roughly 10 percent of the book. And those 40-or-so pages are pretty tough: among other things, Last Lion suggests that Joan Kennedy's trip to Pennsylvania for Kopechne's funeral may have precipitated her third miscarriage; describes Ted Kennedy's comportment in his long-delayed post-crash statement as "muted . . . almost mechanical"; and concludes that Kopechne's death and the senator's subsequent behavior constituted a "crucial failure of [Kennedy's] moral strength." In short, his is no hagiography.

Work on the Last Lion, which hit stores on February 17, began only this past June. But the book doesn't read like a rush project, perhaps because so many hands were involved. Seven Globe staffers did most of the writing; about as many Globe alumni contributed their recollections; and three freelancers served as researchers and fact-checkers. (The book was written without help from Kennedy, who's currently writing his autobiography for the Hachette Book Group USA, and was contractually precluded from cooperating.)

Not surprisingly, the Globe is using Last Lion to drum up business for the paper and its Web site, boston.com; a condensed, seven-part bio of Kennedy's life debuted in the paper this past Sunday, accompanied by some splashy, complimentary multimedia. But Peter Canellos, the Globe's Washington bureau chief, also sees the book as a counterargument to those — including your correspondent — who've suggested diminishing the paper's presence in our nation's capital.

"I think what this shows is how, in Boston, local politics and national politics are intertwined," Canellos tells the Phoenix. "We have so many national figures in our delegation: not just Kennedy, but John Kerry, Barney Frank, Ed Markey. And then there's Mitt Romney. National politics is a local industry in Boston, and the Globe's made a sustained commitment to Washington coverage, because we see it as complimenting our local mission." As Canellos and others work to make the case for the continued existence of the Globe's Washington bureau, Last Lion is likely to help their cause.

Fourth-estate follies, 2009 edition Between the rise of the Web, the ADD-addling of America, the fragmentation of any national political consensus, and the devastated economy, working in the press can feel a bit like manning the Titanic — and this year, the entire industry seemed to teeter on the edge of oblivion.

Disclosure: not a dirty word The City Hall e-mail scandal that has scored headlines in recent weeks exemplifies Mayor Thomas Menino's antagonistic — almost contemptuous — attitude toward public accountability.

Difference of opinion It’s been three months since Peter Canellos replaced Renée Loth as editor of the Boston Globe ’s editorial page.

The importance of being Ernie Media feuds don’t come any nastier than the metastasizing spat between Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr and one “Ernie Boch III,” the pseudonymous blogger at the liberal Web site Blue Mass. Group. (Note: the blogger is no relation to the car dealer.)

Choosing Kennedy’s successor Massachusetts should have a temporary US senator until voters elect a replacement to serve out the remaining three years of Ted Kennedy’s term.

Giant shadow One striking aspect of the Kennedy tributes was the focus on the help he and his office provided for ordinary individuals in Massachusetts — all those things that fall under the category of "constituent services."

Have you heard the one about Chappaquiddick? Last week, during an appearance on the Washington, DC–based Diane Rehm Show on NPR, Ted Kennedy biographer Edward Klein suggested that if Kennedy could witness his own funeral he'd probably crack a joke.

Six for the seat Over the next few months, as candidates for the US Senate travel the state, you're likely to hear them say again and again that nobody can ever truly replace Ted Kennedy. That's the truth. But what does the state want next, after such a legendary, larger-than-life figure?

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010 After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010 The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010 Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010 While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010 The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.